• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Scientists think they’ve worked out why some people are left-handed

Home> News

Updated 17:32 13 Aug 2023 GMT+1Published 17:31 13 Aug 2023 GMT+1

Scientists think they’ve worked out why some people are left-handed

Why are left-handed people left-handed? Scientists reckon they have the answer

Joe Harker

Joe Harker

Happy International Lefthanders Day!

Yes my fellow lefties, come one and all to the one day of the year where we get to celebrate our unique and wonderful existence in this world run by tyrannical regime of the right-handers.

Most of the tools, implements and pretty much everything in the world is designed for their convenience. Remember the days of us having our own special pairs of scissors at school that there were never enough of?

With only about one in 10 people around the world being left-handed, we're severely underrepresented in society, though we can boast some famous lefties to call our own.

Advert

Let's make the most of this day and aim for a future where new generations of lefties no longer have to hope the classroom stationery cupboard has the special left-handed scissors.

Meanwhile, you might be wondering just exactly what causes a person to be left-handed in the first place, especially since you might reckon a thing like this ought to be a 50-50 chance when it's actually just one in 10.

Left handers sometimes have an advantage in sports where they can bring the unorthodox to the table.
Getty Stock Photo

According to IFL Science, researchers have found that previous assumptions that being left-handed was due to genetics might have turned out to be wrong.

Advert

Studies on the existence of us left-handed folk have found that our dominant hand is likely determined before we're even born, as from 13 weeks onwards babies in the womb show a preference for sucking one thumb over the other.

Scientists from Germany, the Netherlands and South Africa found that genetic activity in a baby's spinal cord was asymmetrical while in the womb, potentially meaning the unborn child is already choosing a dominant hand.

Interestingly, this happens before the part of the brain that controls hand movements - the motor cortex - connects to the spinal cord as the fetus develops. This means being left-handed likely isn't determined by the brain.

However, that still doesn't tell us why left-handed people are so rare in the world.

Advert

Only lefties really know the struggle of writing something and trying not to immediately smudge it.
Getty Stock Photo

This has been a question scientists have long grappled with in the hopes of figuring out why one in 10 people are left-handed.

Some theories reckon we've evolved to have more right-handed people because it helps us co-operate with other people better.

Others have been studying other species which have one side dominant over the other, such as birds preferring a certain side depending on how they rested in their eggs.

Advert

Still, the topic continues to be a fuzzy one as far as science is concerned, in part because there's not that many left-handed people who can be part of scientific research into this.

Perhaps one day we'll find the definitive answer as to why so few people are left-handed, for now let's learn to love lefties.

Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Photos

Topics: Weird, Science

Joe Harker
Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

X

@MrJoeHarker

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

4 hours ago
5 hours ago
6 hours ago
7 hours ago
  • 4 hours ago

    Ex-pilot of B-2 stealth bomber reveals disturbing truth of going to toilet on 44-hour mission

    Air Force colonel Melvin Deaile had to go for a wee every 60 minutes

    News
  • 5 hours ago

    People left stunned as woman breaks down exactly how much it costs to give birth in America

    You could put deposits down on several houses for that!

    News
  • 6 hours ago

    Doctor gives 'deeply concerning' warning after man injected himself with sperm to 'cure back pain'

    A man self-medicated by injecting himself with his own semen to 'cure' his back pain

    News
  • 7 hours ago

    Rosie O’Donnell issues scathing response to all the celebrities who attended Jeff Bezos’ $56,000,000 wedding

    "Seeing all these billionaires gathering in the gross excess of it all. The show of it," she wrote on Instagram.

    Celebrity
  • People are convinced they’ve ‘worked out’ Beyoncé’s short message to Taylor Swift onstage at the Grammys
  • Reason why some people are more likely to remember dreams than others
  • Scientists reveals the 9 most common ways people use to end relationships and some might surprise you
  • Taylor Swift fans are convinced they’ve worked out ‘hidden meaning’ behind Grammys 2025 outfit